Tag: Nip/Tuck

Spotlight On: Terriers

Not being one for cops & robbers TV – yes, I’ll admit with it being on the air 2/3 of my life I have been guilty of catching an episode or two of Law & Order and its many iterations, no one can completely resist the strange yet awesome combo of Ice-T, Richard Belzer AND Chris Meloni – the one spin on the crime genre that’s always intriguing is the focus on down and out, possibly shady but ultimately good guy PI stories. This very kind of series has recently surfaced on FX, the network that has truly cornered the market on anti-hero tales (see Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Justified), and its name is Terriers.

Huh? Isn’t that the TLC show about a kennel for designer dogs? Obscure title aside, after viewing the pilot I immediately wanted more and every episode of this SoCal detective series that’s followed has delivered on its fine first hour.

Coming from the mind who created The Shield, Shawn Ryan, and the wordsmith of the Ocean’s 11 remake, Ted Griffin, Terriers is such a perfect mixture of self-contained cases and over-arching mystery that this fan sees strong resemblances to gone-before-its-time fave Veronica Mars since it includes conspiracies and corrupt, wealthy locals in a seemingly idyllic beachside community (sans the high school setting). While not starring a spunky, pixieish blonde  it does have an excellent lead pairing in stars Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James as the two intrepid private investigator heroes who, despite not being officially licensed, take cases that continually put them in harm’s way (or police custody), don’t always pay off big and usually involve beefier men highly trained in the art of pummeling. Basically the kind of situations that create great drama, action and quite a lot of comedy.

With a rather lackluster crop of new shows on the big five networks’ fall schedule, Terriers is a welcome breath of fresh air, another noteworthy notch in FX’s impressive belt of series and has the privilege of receiving a coveted “series recording” space on this TV aficionado’s overtaxed DVR queue. In other words, it’s one to watch – FX, Wednesdays at 10/9c.

Being only half-way through the 13-episode run, it’s easy to play catch-up thanks to the interwebs. Let this excellent promo whet your viewing appetite.

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Bryan Fuller: Back from the Dead

Bryan Fuller, creator/producer of top-notch now-defunct series Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, will be teaming with Bryan Singer (director of X-Men and Usual Suspects, and exec producer of FOX series House) to adapt the Augusten Burroughs novel “Sellevision,” whose previous memoir “Running With Scissors” was turned into a feature helmed by Glee and Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy and starred Alec Baldwin.

The hourlong comedy-drama for NBC will revolve around the inner workings at a fictional home shopping channel. Being a world rich with great metaphors of consumerism, buying happiness and chasing material things, Fuller stresses the show won’t satirize the home-shopping genre itself but instead will be a more grounded take on that sphere through the eyes of one player in it.

Fuller also has a second script — his first stab at a half-hour comedy — in the works at the Peacock. No Kill is a workplace laffer set inside a no-kill animal shelter. Fuller, a self-described “animal lover,” believes that there is humor in people who identify more with animals than other humans, and that his show will be a comedy about “becoming human.”

In between these two scripts, Fuller is still working on a comicbook adaptation of his late ABC series Pushing Daisies, and remains hopeful that the 12 issues of the comicbook will eventually serve as a blueprint for a Pushing Daisies movie.